Past Programs
Activism and Lobbying - 2008
Queensland Labor MP defects to Greens
06/10/2008
The Queensland state member for Indooroopilly Ronan Lee has defected to the Greens from Labor and plans to stand as a Green in his Brisbane seat at the next state election. Mr Lee is a long term advocate of environmental issues, and says he's been disappointed with the Queensland government's approach.
Whatever Happened to Brenda Hean?
02/10/2008
Just over a year ago, Radio National Breakfast spoke to film-maker Scott Millwood. A former lawyer, Millwood had embarked on a very personal journey to expose what he saw as secrets, lies and betrayals haunting the soul of contemporary Tasmania.
Using his own money, Millwood put a $100,000 reward on the table for information that would help resolve one of Australian aviation's greatest riddles: how did Brenda Hean and Max Price die?
The story is told in his new film and book, Whatever Happened to Brenda Hean?
Dick Cheney's papers
15/09/2008
With only a few months left of the Bush administration, a group of concerned historians have turned to the courts to try and save documents belonging to Vice-President Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney is considered to be America's most powerful vice-president ever, and there is concern he will destroy or withhold key documents when he leaves office.
Senators targeted online
29/08/2008
Getup is launching a new website to put the public in touch with Senators, after a survey found four out of ten adults were confused about what the Senate does.
Biography of Brian Burke
31/07/2008
During last year's federal election campaign, Labor politicians of all shapes and sizes seemed anxious to deny any sort of connection with the former premier of Western Australia, Brian Burke. And yet during the 1980s, Brian Burke was the most popular leader in Australia. Some even had him pegged as a future prime minister. So is Brian Burke a one-off phenomenon, or is he simply a product of our system of politics?
New Liberal National Party in Queensland
28/07/2008
Queensland's main conservative parties have merged as one single entity to be called the Liberal National Party. It will be headed by former nationals leader Lawrence Springbord.
Lobbyists call for action on climate change
07/07/2008
The Garnaut report on climate change may have only just been released, but the lobbyists are gearing up to point the federal government in their direction. This weekend a new group of environmental and social groups launched the Southern Cross Alliance, whose purpose is the urge the government to ignore calls for delays on dealing with climate change and act now.
Political stunts in the spotlight
27/06/2008
Stunts are the stock in trade of the minor parties and independents. But do they actually work, and can we expect more and more stunts as the political stunt king of them all, South Australia's Senator elect Nick Xenophon, heads to Canberra?
Peddling influence and money
16/05/2008
This week Special Minister of State John Faulkner announced a new code of conduct for lobbyists. It includes a register of the lobby firms, who will have to put on public view their full list of clients from July 1. If they don't, they will not be given access to government representatives. Listen to the full report on Background Briefing, Sunday 18 May 2008 at 9am, repeated Tuesday 20 May at 7pm
Torch runner says Olympic ideal is beyond politics
23/04/2008
Canberra's Australian of the year Lyn Hatfield Dodds has pulled out of the Olympic torch relay, sheduled for tommorrow, to make a point about human rights abuses in Tibet. But other torch bearers, like former Olympic marathon runner Robert de Castella, believe politics should be kept out of the Olympic ideal.
Call for clean coal task force
15/04/2008
The Climate Institute and environment group WWF Australia are to join the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and the Australian Coal Association in calling for a new government sponsored national body. Its purpose is to set up benchmarks for the development of clean coal in Australia. John Connor is the CEO of the Climate Institute.
Youth Summit ready with 2020 ideas
14/04/2008
A treaty between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, paid parental leave for men and women, and lowering the voting age to 16 are just three of the many ideas to emerge from this weekend's 2020 Youth Summit in Canberra. The meeting was something of a dry run ahead of next week's full 2020 summit with 1,000 delegates expected to descend on the capital. One hundred young people between the ages of 15 and 24 held discussions for 2 days on the kind of Australia they would like to see.
Governor-General reaction: Wendy McCarthy
14/04/2008
For reaction to the appointment of our new governor-general, let's turn to Quentin Bryce's close friend, leading businesswoman and women's rights advocate Wendy McCarthy.
Lobbyists cautiously await the federal government register
02/04/2008
When the scandal over the lobbying activities of the former Western Australian premier Brian Burke hit the headlines, the fallout reverberated around the country. Questions were raised about anyone who'd had a connection with the disgraced former premier, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The government hopes to shine a spotlight on the sometimes shadowy world of lobbying with a New register, putting details about lobbyists and their clients into the public domain
Public dental care debate
13/03/2008
Debate over the future of public dental care flared in the federal parliament yesterday. This was prompted by a call from Labor back bencher Craig Thompson for Medicare funding for dental treatment for people under 18 and over 65.
The federal opposition is furious that its program to help pay for the treatment of the chronically ill will be dumped in favour of the government's plan to spend $290m to clear the backlog of public dental patients. But critics say the approaches so far have been patchy and piecemeal.
Shake-up for political funding and governance
05/03/2008
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd promised a 'comprehensive' shake-up of political funding in Australia. Just how comprehensive those reforms turn out to be will be largely determined by whether they also address the critical lack of rules governing political parties in Australia. That's the opinion of Democrat Senator Andrew Murray, who says political parties should be regulated in the same way as corporations and unions.
